my {BEST} friend

Lately Emma will run up to me, give me a {bear hug} hug and say 'Mom, your my BEST friend!' I will forever cherish these moments. I know they wont last forever, but for now they mean the world to me coming from this sweet bubbly energetic 2 year old. We had so much fun playing in the backyard Saturday and I lost count of how many times I had the privilage of being called Emma's {best friend} . What a wonderful moment.

The Princess and I trekked into the backyard this morning to make snow angels... I will load a slide of it tomorrow. But couldn't resist from posting this one - definitely my fav of the day.

blog talk

Emma loves looking at the {blog}. She LoVeS seeing pictures of herself and Jake - and she also totally loves looking at our friends blogs too! For those of you that read my blog and don't have one of your own - DO IT! haha. It truely is easy, and it's a lot of fun to keep up with the current happenings in each other's lives! Anyway, if you have one or are gonna get one - let me know because I would like to put a little list of my friends blogs over on the side so others can see too :) Here is Emma checking out our blog yesterday (sporting mommy's computer glasses) ...

Christmas {round 2}

so {BIG} so {FAST}

Where does the time go? I swear it was just yesterday that I held this tiny bundle for the first time... now he is * sitting up * rolling over * getting teeth* and * eating sweet potatoes *

Oh Jake, 6 months ago I was so excited you were here, but never could I have imagined what pure joy you bring us. Your endless smiles are priceless. You are so in love with your sister that you completely light up every time you see her. And just like Daddy says, when you can't see her, you are looking for her. Jake you a true blessing little man. Your happiness is always 'just what I need' at the end of every day.

4 years

Four years ago today I:

* woke up exaughsted from all the planning!

* Got the phone call that since it had snowed overnight I would be able to have my horse drawn sleigh after all

* Shared the amazing day with fabulous family and friends who drove the slick roads to show their love and support

* Spent the morning with my dearest bridesmaids

* Married the man that I {LOVE} so much

* Got to ride in that horse drawn sleigh!

* Started my life as a MRS ~ best decision I have ever made!

Christmas {round one}

Christmas with my mom, Nick, Andrea and Kylie last night :) Fun times had by all - I will have to update more later. Till then, here are th pictures.

Don't Forget!!!

Don't forget to leave me at least your first name on your comments if your google account name doesn't tell me who you are! :) That way I know who is leaving the message! :) (cknbrdez - uh, that'd be you!) THANKS! It's been fun reading who all checks in on my blog!

Pictures to come this afternoon from Christmas {round 1} last night!

Jake's new {favorite} things:

frozen teething ring

tylenol

extra sleep

(all of this means our little guy is getting in his first tooth!)

Wondering

As I sit here this morning, kids sleeping, Aaron off early to work - I wonder to myself 'who checks this blog anyway?' I love it when I get comments, and I'm not forcing you to leave one, or even ask that you comment more often. But I would {love it} it for just this once if all of you would comment so I know who looks - even those of you that I may not know! For example, 19 of you checked into my blog yesterday - 19!!! I figured it was just my mom, Andrea and Suzanne that checked this regularly ;-) So you don't have to say much, and in fact just your first name and maybe the state you live in would be fun. Just to give myself a little peek at who my reading audience is!

oh, and if it's too much to do a google account (though it's not a new email or anything, you just sign up with your current email and a password) you can feel free to email me and I will post just your first name if you want :) Don't do it if you don't want to, it's just my crazy idea of a good time!

Fun Finds

I'm in L*O*V*E with {BLUEPRINT} magazine by the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (of course) and learned of a fabulous website you should all check out.

www.hostesswiththemostest.com (it's even a great name!)

Everything from guitar molds for ice to themes for baby showers.

Ok, well. That's all I've got tonight.

Naked Jake

I was getting Jake ready for a bath and as soon as he was completely naked of course Emma needed my help getting a toy down - I came into Jake's room to find he had rolled on his tummy!!! Little trickster learned that one fast! He was so happy and laughing and just over all his giddy self I couldn't help but snap some quick shots of that cute little naked boy :)

Oh Christmas Tree...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! And everything that comes with it. I love the music, I love the Celebration of Christ's birth, I love the lights, I even love the shopping - and I {LOVE} getting our tree!!

Aaron and Emma with out tree! Big thanks to Nick for letting us use the truck, it sure is a pain strapping a tree to the top of the car :) It made our night much easier!!!

Emma is so proud, she told me where to hang every single ornament today. It was an adventure to say the least, she also was a big helper untangling lights and placing ribbon. I'm afraid she may have inherited some of my craftiness. Oh dear!
Both my munchkins under the tree for a quick picture before heading to bed! (yes, Jake is another thumb sucker!)
Ahhh Christmas. This is the peace and quiet while everyone is in bed but me. Time to shut down the computer, glance one more time at my beautiful tree and turn out the lights. I hope all of you are embracing the Christmas Spirit and enjoying your own special time of year :)

Who's Who?

Just a quick post this morning before we head out to get the kids pictures taken today. Last night I browsed some old photos of Emma, look what I found! I think they look so much alike! They are the same age in this photo - 5 months. And yes, thanks to my Aunt Karren, I have a new saucer for Jake! :)

Marshmellows anyone?

I was on the computer this morning and Emma was happily playing with her baby dolls and tea party set when out of the blue she walked over and said, " Mom, I have a tummy ache - but you can make me marshmellows and that will make it better. " I did my best to not laugh, her face was so sweet and genuine. Think she wants a marshmellow?

Needing a laugh

As many of you know, Aaron is working a second job and so am I. We are tired and it's hard to manage everything going on... I needed a laugh and this was sent to me by a friend. I just HAD to pass it on, it's hilarious. Wish I would have had the guts to do this at my wedding, talk about memorable! haha. Hope you get the laugh you were needing too.

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=23023318

Rockin' Shoppin' Eve

How can it be the day after thankgiving {without} ShOpPiNg? Well, for the first time ever ~ our mall opened at 1am on black friday. So of course Andrea and I were there, sitting in the parking lot waiting at 11:30pm. Andrea had a few specific goals, I was along for the fun. How often do we get to shop with{OUT} the kids and everyone at home sleeping? That's right, never. We even snagged santa for a quick pose. btw, I can't stand the pictures of me, but what can I say? it was way past my bed time ;-)

This would be Andrea trying to tell you that it is 1:30 AM!









In line at the Disney store, probably the best deal at the mall for us. Kylie and Emma got Christmas presents here!

I am posting this.... *big sigh* as we are currently losing to Hawaii. Big bummer. I'll update it at the end of the game, right now it's the start of the fourth quarter.

Family time

thanksgiving family photo

and our little man doing one of his favorite things ... standing!

So Thankful for...

It's not that I don't have faith in man kind. But it's the holidays, people are desperate, and who couldn't use a few extra Benjamin's?? I have a renewed appreciation in honesty, a renewed faith in the everyday people we encounter, and a thankful heart.

If you know me well, you will not be the least bit surprised that I saved my holiday food shopping for the day before thanksgiving. Around noon to be exact, just like the rest of my town from the look of things. Aaron was home with Emma, so I had a sleepy-not-feeling-well Jake on my hands. Drifting in and out of sleep in the shopping cart as I gathered my necessities for a fabulous artery clogging "Fall to you knees Mac & Cheese". (I don't even like mac and cheese, but this is incredible.... I'll try and post the recipe later) So I made my way out to the cart while chatting briefly with my Nana on my cell phone. Load my groceries in the trunk, Andrea does a quick drive by my car to drop me off some things - put a crying Jake in his car seat and so flustered I just shove the cart by the car (not returning it), hop in and head to the bank. As I dig for my ID to drive thru the Bank, I realize my purse is NOWHERE to be found. I pull over and check the back, nope. By Jake's car seat? Nope. Then it hits me. It's sitting in the cart, in the parking lot of Fred Meyer. (Bad words went through my brain though they didn't come out) Frantically I drove back, jumped out - the cart was there but no purse. My phone rang and it was Andrea, she had called customer service for me and someone had turned it in. Now just before heading to the store I had cashed my check from work, so all that cash was sitting inside my unzipped purse. I trudged inside thankful my purse was there but sure that the insides would be gone. I gave the customer service lady a half smile with a tear in my eye, she knew why I was there. She handed me my purse and I looked through it not expecting much. To my amazement and my sincere thank you to whoever found my purse - everything was there. Not one bill or card was out of place. THANK YOU. I AM truly blessed! And a little extra thankful on this Thanksgiving Day!

Have fun eating your turkey's and taters!

Elf Yourself

This is the funniest thing I have seen in a LONG time. C'mon try it for yourself! :) But watch ours first, click on the link:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9516642544

FrIeNdS

It's always good to catch up with friends. Sunday we were able to go to the Cheesecake Factory with the Millers! Aaron taught with Amy at Newbury Park Academy around the time we were married. We have some great memories of hanging out with them including; Snapper Jacks Taco Shack! Tom's Cabin camping and of course, Cabo San Lucas Mexico!!! The last time we saw them, Amy was pregnant with their adorable girl who is now 18 months old! TOO much time had passed, it was great to catch up and spend a few hours with some old friends.

a SURPRISE!

My mom turned the BiG 50 on saturday, and we threw her a surprise party. Andrea and I had been talking and planning for months, amazingly enough we pulled it off! The story that got her to the house was that we were all meeting to go to dinner as a family and she had NO idea that 20 of us were waiting to surprise her! The look on her face was priceless and of course my camera wasn't fast enough, but she gasped and jumped backwards about a foot and hid her face. The party was called 'Death by Chocolate' and it was just that. We had more truffles and cake than anyone could stomach, even a chocolate fountain for dipping strawberries, angel food cake and brownie bites. Thanks to everyone that helped us pull it off!

for Suzanne...

I changed my background :) (obviously, huh?) I will go christmas later, this seems more 'thankgiving-ish'.

I have so much to catch up on from the weekend, stay tuned for more later this afternoon/evening!

Jake and his toes

The newest discovery for Jake is his toes. He loves them. He lays there and talks to them, slobbers on them, and grabs them. He just can't get enough of them! And I can't get enough of watching him!

Sweet new RiDe for Jake

{ThaNKs Dad}
FoR JaKe'S sWeeT new RiDe

For those of you that may NoT know (but how could you not??) how fabulously chunk-o-licious my little man is... he is now 8 days shy of 5 months, and tipping the scales at 21 lbs! *YIKES* He is over the weight limit for his infant carrier (the same one Emma was in until at least 9 months) and time to upgrade! So thanks to Grandpa Gregg' he is stylin' in his Eddie Bauer Edition - same style as Emma's, just in his manly brown and blue colors :) Check out that smile ~ I think he likes it!
And who couldn't resist these two adorable princesses? SiMpLy PreCiouS

Need Clips?

For those of you that have asked how you can get your hands on these clippies... email me. I'm working to get a blog up for the Le'Laine Boutique stuff, but it's not quite there and realistically wont be till after Christmas.

tinalelaine@hotmail.com

Just for fun...

What we do on a Wednesday night...

here is my randomness for the day.
I love cupcakes.
LOVE them.
YCuPcAkEsY
but cream cheese frosting is a {must}
and sprinkles.
fabulously colorful little delights.
anyone want to make me a cupcake?

I Y this man.

I happened upon this picture today and just wanted to post it because it makes me smile - it is not often we sneak a picture of just the two of us!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive and caring husband. Thanks hon for everything you do for me!

Le'Laine Boutique

The first craft show of the season was this past weekend, and it went *G*R*E*A*T* !!! I totally missed having Andrea there, she had a big family event in So Cal that kept her away. But I felt totally blessed to have my {awesome} friend Dana help me for Saturday, and my MoM help me out Sunday. {THANK YOU} to
my handsome hubby too for taking the kids solo all weekend so I could spend it focusing on my passion (obsession) ;) Someday I {WILL} have my own (ahem, with Andrea) Boutique.
So when this all started it was just 'bows 'n' blings' (clippies and jewelry) but we have started exploring our sewing abilities and have been embellishing outfits and onesies, along with sewing some adorable burp cloths. And Andrea makes the *CuTeSt* modge podge picture frames and jewelry boxes. It's so fun, wanted to give you all a {very} small glance at what we do!
{Hopefully} Le'Laine Boutique will have a website for you to visit soon! I'll keep you posted!

Ohh... and a {BIG} shout out to Andrea for marketing while in Southern Cali! We may be in a boutique down there soon, as well as two new prospects in Spokane and Coeur D'Alene! (thanks Angela!) I will definitely keep you updated on that as well!

"Mommy, I'm going to try to go potty so I can try to get some M&M's"

This is the phrase I now hear daily. Oh yes, it's that time.

It's {PoTtY tRaInInG} time.

*sigh*

We actually started right around Em's 2nd birthday, but once Jake was born things seemed to go downhill a bit... oh ok. It stopped completely. BUT! We seem to be back on track and even wear big girl underwear at home now and then. I do admit if I was a bit more pushy we would probably have this thing down. I'm open to tips.... seriously. Please give me tips.

*stressed out little smile*

H a p p y H a l l o w e e n !

My handsome little BSU quarterback & my beautiful princess!

Our first stop was Grandma's work to trick or treat and then take her to the mall with us....

Trick or Treating at the mall! Emma made quite the haul on candy! Jake slept :)
Afterwards we went to a little fall festival at our church, then out to eat with Uncle Nick - and finally home to bed! It was a very fun and eventful day, and this mommy is glad it's over! ha!

An AMAZING October Blog

{T H A N K * Y O U}

You have made my blog a bigger success than I could have ever imagined! It has been *SO* fun being able to share pictures and videos and daily little clips of my life with {YOU}! I would say October was quite successful as my first month of blogging! I made 27 posts in 31 days - had just shy of 500 visits to my blog and LoTs of fabulous comments from friends and family. T*H*A*N*K*Y*O*U !!! It makes every moment of typing and picture uploading truly worth it! I get such a ThRiLL when I receive a comment about my post - to me it lets me know you are enjoying what you read and that you are eager for more :) So again, ThAnKs! I hope to make just as many posts in November, with just as many goodies for you to see! You, my FaMiLy and FrIeNdS are the {B E S T}.

LoVe ~ ME

Emma 'n' New Kitty

... We are N*O*T planning on this kitty hanging around here forever. But I do feel I'm doing my duty to keep him indoors at least past tonight. I should have more faith in people - but there are crazies out there, and this black cat is with us for now! ;) He and Emma have been having fun playing... I missed the picture of Emma putting hiim in the bathtub and pretending to give him a bath. He just sat there the whole time until she was done, she even dried him off with a towel. Crazy new kitty! Here's some pictures :) Kids are dressed up today - I'll post pictures later!